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I'd use Homebrew to install Vim on macOS, with brew install vim, but the Homebrew Formula for Vim seems to install many additional features that I don't need. For example, while I do plan on using Vim to edit Ruby files, I don't plan on using the Ruby interface to Vim. (See :help ruby.)

So, when compiling Vim on macOS, what features should I include or leave out (that aren't already included or left out by default), and are there any other custom configuration options I should set?

Interestingly, many people seem to share the settings & plugins they use when running Vim, but not many seem to share the configurations & features they use when compiling Vim.

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  • AFAIK, the reason people dont share compiled features is because vim is small (comparatively) even with all its features enabled. For most, it doesn’t make sense to.
    – D. Ben Knoble ♦
    Sep 13, 2018 at 4:11
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    @D.BenKnoble, spot on. I downloaded Vim source to test a potential new feature, kicked off the build and, before I could get out of my seat to go get a coffee, it had finished :-) Guess I'd gotton used to behemoths like Python or Emacs (or my own software at work).
    – user579
    Sep 21, 2018 at 0:32

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Compile Vim via MacPorts

Macports provides currently a more granular installation approach for vim than homebrew:

It offers the feature variants tiny, small, big, and huge. You can add specifically the interfaces for ruby, perl, lua, python.

For all variants see https://ports.macports.org/port/vim/summary

However, you can add this functionality to the homebrew formula as well (https://docs.brew.sh/Formula-Cookbook#specifying-other-formulae-as-dependencies). Others might appreciate it.

On the other hand as it has been mentioned: compiling with huge by default and adding all interfaces is not really a performance problem. Also you can notice later on that you miss something. You will not run into this situation for the current build and therefore works for everyone.

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